Help please with stringer swirl
I have searched the data base but can't figure out the right words to use so I need some secrets on how people get those beautiful swirls (that look like a wave) in their stringer work. The photo attached has what I'm looking for. I have been using 3mm clear stringers to make the circle then break the off but as you can see, the results are less than thrilling. Is there a tool that can be used? IPlease, please ... tell me your secrets!!
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I'm interested in what others have to say. I use a stringer, and depending on the stringer size, where I put it and how much I twist I get different looks.
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More heat on the spot you are twisting
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Are you heating just the spot you want to twirl?
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Do you want an "arching wave" (essentially only a portion of a circle) or a tight swirl with a full (or more) circle? I thought you "wave" looked good.
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I use an old dental tool or a tungsten pick instead of a stringer. That way you can push/pull or twist.
Twist Push/Pull dj |
If you want more of a wave than a swirl, twist further to the top of the stringer. And concentrate heat into just the part of the glass that you want to move.
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Make a thin stringer to twist with. Heat the spot you want to twist & wait about 2 seconds. Then, twist the stringer about 3 times around, blow on it & break it off. If you want it to look like the ocean, use ivory with silver foil on half the bead & a ocean colored transparent on the other half. Then twist the colors.
http://i64.tinypic.com/68fwg8.jpg |
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Stringer here also.
I tend to use clear. This is a classic lesson in heat control. It is 'only' heating just the area you want to move and waiting long enough for it to cool enough to not go soupy when you plunge then waiting long enough for it solidify and snap off the stringer. Of course heart surgery is also 'only' cutting someone open and possibly sewing together arteries a little larger that the pencil lead in a mechanical pencil and sewing the patient back together again. Oh and the whole graduate from medical school thing too. Good luck. Mine suck too. |
What size stringer do you all use???
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LOL... So, basically what everyone is saying is the only answer is "Practice, Practice Practice."
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Has anyone used a tungsten rod to make the swirls? I found these at ABR ... one photo is terrible but that's what they have on the website.
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IMO the tungsten doesn't work for a swirl. It works for pulling & dragging. The stringer attaches to the glass so you can get a few turns.
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I ground my tungsten with a cutting disk in my Dremel tool.
It was a good practice with pressure and particle spray control and I had really good ventilation going. If I remember right you don't want to use the surface of your best normal grinding wheel because the tungsten will pack the pores so much that you will need to resurface the wheel. Also there are types of tungsten that have a variety of other metals in them to improve their use in welding, some of which are radio active like thorium. Not harmful in them themselves but you don't want even a speck of that stuff in your lungs as it will help you to glow in the dark just a little bit brighter. Make sure that your tungsten has the tip painted green because that is the kind without the extra additives. |
I always use my tungsten, I can go really tight or not depending on how much I twist. Fwiw I can't do it with a stringer really, so if it's a problem try a pick.
I buy the 'fireworks' brand, the stuff at hobby lobby haha, comes with mandrels. Really it's decent, I've used the same one for almost 10 years now and it's been through hell and back and used nightly. |
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They sell sheet glass and mosiacs, it's in that section, I believe with the clay?
These, I don't think they cost this much though https://www.amazon.com/Fireworks-32-.../dp/B00114RLQU I literally bang the tip on my cement block when glass sticks to it, it's really a good little tool. |
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Aye. Those are not tungsten.
I got mine at a welding shop. |
I got mine at a welding place too, Airgas has a place in Tampa and I got them there. I don't use them to twist though, but maybe I will try it.
I sharpened some of the ones I bought, do you sharpen them to twist, or use them as they come? |
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